SheFinds News: Make Snail Mail Work For You

shefinds | Style

Itâ€™s amazing what 100 stamps and a little free time can get you. For Tom Locke, that combo bred the $39 Experiment, in which Tom mailed short letters to 100 companies asking for free samples. He chronicles his findings in a handy chart on his website, where he lets thrifty readers know which companies doled out the goods (Gatorade, Burtâ€™s Bees, and Mercedes Benz all anted up free products) and which ones left him hanging (Biore, Kraft, and Trader Joeâ€™s all declined his requests.) If you want an in on all kinds of free goodies but donâ€™t want to pony up the time or cash for a letter-writing campaign, youâ€™re in luck â€” the Internet is chock full of free sample offers. Try typing â€œbeauty freebiesâ€ or â€œfree cosmetic samplesâ€ into your search engine and prepare to be inundated! There are some sites, like Cool Savings.com, that will hook you up in exchange for you filling out a survey. Other sites collect offers from around the Internet and update daily (Free Stuff Channel is a good place to start.) If thereâ€™s a specific product you canâ€™t wait to test drive, go straight to the source; lots of cosmetic companies will send you free goods if you visit the â€œFree Sampleâ€ or â€œSpecial Offerâ€ pages on their websites. Where to start? Cover Girl, Dove, Rimmel, and Garnier are all itching to put gratis samples of their newest products in your mailbox.